Books
by L. Greene
Summary: "Go to a major chain bookstore, and leave notes to future readers in copies of your favorite books." AU! Part 2/20 of the "Date Night" series, based on a list of twenty unusual date ideas.


**So. Like how I managed to post Part 2 of this series tonight? I wrote this in about an hour.**

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_Go to a major chain bookstore, and leave notes to future readers in copies of your favorite books._

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"Do you have the sticky notes?" Lu asked, cutting the engine and unbuckling his seatbelt.

Next to him, Balthazar unbuckled and began rummaging in his pockets. There was an intent look on his face and for a wild moment, Lu was sure they were going to have to go back. Suddenly, the shorter blonde grinned and produced a short stack of sticky notes. "Here!" he said triumphantly before pocketing them again, this time in his jacket.

"Good." Lu reached across Balthazar, flipped open the glove compartment, and fished out a pen. He tucked it into the pocket of Balthazar's jacket as well and opened up his door. The other man followed suit and led the way into the Border's Books.

Lu couldn't help smiling at Balthazar's back. He absolutely loved that jacket on him, all soft velvet and black as sin, and it was cut just right, giving him an absolutely gorgeous outline. From the line of his shoulders to the subtle taper right where it curved to his waist, that jacket was made for him. Lu had to struggle to keep his thoughts PG-13-rated and was just glad Balthazar's jacket went just past his backside, because there would be absolutely no way he could function with his ass in sight. Especially with those jeans—

_Nope._ He stopped himself before his head could go on. If he didn't get himself under control, he might seriously consider finding a nice, quiet corner of the store and taking him right there. As much as he liked the idea of scaring the crap out of small children, he didn't feel like being put on a sex-offender registry. Not today, anyway.

He followed Balthazar into the store and finally caught up with him as the blonde paused in front of a table piled high with books. "I like _Dracula_," Balthazar said slowly, holding up a leather-bound book. "But obviously, not this edition." Obviously. Most of the books on this table were shrink-wrapped for some reason.

"Then let's head back."

The first book they ran into that they really knew of was the cultural phenomenon _Twilight_. "Here, give me a sticky note," Lu said, grinning with a devilish smile that had Balthazar both nervous and excited. He peeled a sheet off the top and Lu reached into his jacket pocket and hunched over, scribbling something across the note.

"What's it say?" Balthazar said impatiently, but with a definite note of curiosity.

Finishing his thought, the strawberry blonde straightened up and held up the note, stuck to his hand with the adhesive. _TL;DR—Edward is creepy and Bella is stupid._ Balthazar snorted with laughter as Lu flipped to a random page, stuck the note in, and slammed the book shut. He set it back to where it had been before he picked it up and they moved on, feigning innocence.

The next book either of them felt the need to comment upon was _Good Omens_. Lu had never read it, but Balthazar practically had it memorized. He snatched the pen out of Lu's hand and wrote something across the tiny paper with his neat lefty script.

"What's this about?" Lu asked, idly flipping through pages.

"You should read it and find out," Balthazar said good-naturedly, taking it from the taller man's grip and slapping the sticky note on the first page. He turned it around for Lu's approval.

"'_Crowley dies on page 83.'_ That's not nice! Spoilers, Balthy. They're mean."

Balthazar snorted. "If you read the book, you'd understand. Crowley doesn't die at all. I just want to give the reader a little scare. Most likely, they'll like his character as much as I do and be horrified the closer to page 83 they get." He closed _Good Omens_ and set it back down. "And then they get there and pass it and Crowley's still alive and kicking and they keep reading, waiting for the other shoe to drop and it never does."

Lu laughed. "And I thought _I_ was sadistic. This is how you get your jollies? Making poor, naïve readers believe their favorite characters are about to be offed?"

"Of course," Balthazar joked. "I've been taking lessons from Steve Moffat." That sent them both into a fit of laughter that they struggled to stifle. They darted away to another row of shelves to avoid arousing suspicion and found themselves in the classic horror aisle.

"Oh, this is perfect," Lu said triumphantly. He pulled a copy of _Dracula_ off the shelf and tossed it to Balthazar. "There. What did you want to leave for the next generation of reader?"

Balthazar smirked, scribbled something down, and held out the sticky note. _BAD WOLF_ was all he'd written.

"I bet the next person isn't going to have a _clue_ what that means."

"Probably not. But what if they do?" Balthazar tucked the note into the book and put it back on the shelf. He grabbed another copy of _Dracula_ and wrote something else.

"Haven't you done enough damage to the children of this world?"

Balthazar scoffed. "Hardly. Check this out."

Lu peered over his shoulder and almost dissolved into giggles. _Never come between a man and his man._ "Okay, that's a sentiment I can get behind."

"I believe you have," Balthazar joked.

The continued on, with Lu leaving a note reading _this book scared the piss out of me_ in a copy of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ (it hadn't, but he wanted to mess with the next person who picked it up), saying _the movie was better_ in Bret Easton Ellis's _American Psycho_ (also a lie—even though he liked the chainsaw scene in the movie, he had no idea where the director got such a crazy idea), and a third simply reading _fight the fairies!_ in a copy of _Artemis Fowl_. Balthazar wrote _BEHIND YOU!_ in a copy of _Frankenstein_. In _The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_, they agreed that _Sherlock says, "Elementary, Watson" exactly never_ was an excellent addition, and stuck another note that read _Anne Rice knockoff_ in a copy of Anne Rice's _Interview with a Vampire_. Lu picked up _Invisible Monsters_ and wrote _Plot twist: everyone develops amnesia and thinks they're someone else_.Balthazar seized a copy of _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ and scribbled down _Shouldn't you be watching Doctor Who?_ Both of them sniggered at that.

"We ready to go?" Balthazar asked after they'd been wandering around for close to two hours. This was a lot more fun than Lu expected. He didn't think he'd stopped grinning once since they came in.

"Hang on. I just… It feels unfinished. One more book. The _perfect_ book." He narrowed his eyes and looked around, propping his right elbow up on his wrist and thinking. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. "Got it!" He dashed off toward the back, and it was all Balthazar could do to keep up.

Lu paced in front of the shelves for thirty seconds or so, muttering to himself until he finally reached the bottom shelf. He triumphantly pulled _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_ off the shelf. He settled down cross-legged on the floor and held out his hand for a sticky note and the pen. When he finally finished his note, he picked a page close to the front and held it out so Balthazar could read.

_It's just a jump to the left and a step to the right._ Balthazar snorted with laughter. "Think you've seen _Rocky Horror_ enough?"

"Nowhere near enough." Grinning, he slammed the book shut, slid it back into its place and stood up. "_Now_ we can go," he said. He wrapped his arms around Balthazar and pulled them together, giving him a soft kiss that had the shorter man draping his arms around Lu's neck. "We should probably go soon," Lu added, pulling back slightly and smirking now. "Your ass in those jeans is to die for."

"You're mad," Balthazar laughed. "But I love you anyway."

"Good." Lu kissed him again, lighter and teasingly. "I love you, too."

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**These are all going to be ridiculously fluffy. A few are going to be smutty (the ones that have smut potential, anyway).**

**I am having far too much fun with this.**


End file.
